Page:Stewart Edward White--The Rose Dawn.djvu/163

Rh turned from it. On the sands they left a tracery of fine foot-prints, like a delicate pattern of lace.

The tide was at its lowest. Already the singing wind was graying and ribbing the surface of the sand. A mist of fine particles was dancing elfishly. Where lay shells or pebbles the wind was industriously carving, so that they stood up slightly above the surface as the caps of miniature pillars or the heads of tiny promontories. Nevertheless, the beach itself was hard as iron underneath and the hoofs of the horse went k-pit k-pat, and the occasional popping of kelp bubbles.

From the open Pacific the breakers rolled powerfully in. For a moment they stood erect, and one could see the green lucence through them, and the wild sudden lift of weeds; then they rushed forward in a roar of white, tossing, tumbling, playing wild pranks with the shore they had reached at last after so many leagues. And alternately appeared and disappeared spouting dripping black rocks with weeds like green hair unbound. And beyond was the low gray sea, lifting and falling.

Outside the breaker-lines a school of dolphins played, running up the coast as though pacing the flying horsemen. Long lines of black "shags," or cormorants, were going somewhere; flying close to the water, their necks stretched out. Swifter ducks passed them or darted across their flight. Pelicans sailed along majestically only to let go all holds and drop as though shot, hitting the water with an awkward splash. Then the attendant small gulls or terns bore down screaming to where the pelican rode high on the waves like a galleon, hoping that the great bird would drop his catch when he tossed it from his pouch to catch it again in mid-air. A number of seals swam close inshore, and they raised their sleek, brown intelligent heads to stare at these passers by. One of them held a large fish crosswise in his mouth. As the great waves heaved up finally before breaking, and the green light shone through them, Kenneth could see behind their faces, as though he looked through the glass of an aquarium, the shadowy forms of more seals darting agilely back and forth in the lift of the comber only to fade at the last moment before the heavy water crashed down. They were playing, flirting with the last moment; just as the surf ducks